Continuous heat-treating apparatus.



I. F, BAILY @L F. T. COPE. Y CONTINUOUS HEAT TREATING'APPARATUS. I APPLICATION FILED.FEB 3. I9I?.

Tammed July 24;, 1917:

2 sHEETs-sHEETI www - E; BAILY @L F. TLGOPE. CONTINUOUS HEAI TREAT'ING APPARATUS APPLl'cAnoN FILED rma. 1917.

' Patentenwuly 24,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. THDDEUS BAILY ANDFRANK T. COPE, OF ALLIANCE, OHIO, ASSIGNORS TO THE ELECTRIC FURNACE COMPANY, OF ALLIANCE, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CONTINUOUS HEAT-iranienne arrana'rus.

resaca?.

t To all whom Muay concern:

Be it known thatv we, TimDDEUs FL BAILY and FRANK T. Corn, citizens of the United States, `both residing at Alliance, in ,the county of Starkmand State of Ohio, have invented .a new and useful ContinuousHeat'- Treating Apparatus, of which the. follow'- ing is a specification. Uur invention relates to improvements in heat treating furnaces and has more especial reference to a hardening furnace arranged in combination with an annealing furnace and a quenching device arranged to receive the charge from the hardening furnace .and carry the charge to theannealing:furnace The object 'ofour invention is to provide av heat treating furnace in which billets ory -the like 'are fed automatically through a hardemng furnace and discharged tierethey arecarriedto an annealing furnace and fed automatically therethrough.

Another object is to provide a device ofv this character in which the mechanism for automatically feeding and discharging the billets is. operated by `electrical devices controlled by the temperature of the furnace. With these objects in view the invention consists in the novel construction `and, arrangement of parts, hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

and particularly pointed out in theappend-` ed claims, it being understood that various' changes in the form, proportions, size *and minor details of construction may be made within the lscope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit or sacricing any of the advantages of the invention.

ln the drawings: Y

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic View of a heat treating furnace constructed in accordance with our invention..

. Fig. 2 is anenlarged view of one of theV from into a quenching device from whichI Iter.'

v solenoid 28, a battery 29 being interposed Specification of Letters Patenti1 Patient-,Qd July 24, 1917, Application filed February 3, `191'?. Serial' No. 146,510. i

by means of the sliding doors 4 and 5 respectively. A suitable billet support 6 extends through the heating chamber 7 of the y furnace, the extremities of said support being extended through the entrance and exit `passed into the' heating cha1nber,=the Ainclined extremity'designatedby the numeral 9, which extends lout and through the exit openin being arranged to c'arry the treated or `har ened billets from the hardening-furnaceV to the quenching trough. Resister troughs 9a may be provided for electrically heating the furnace or any other'heating 75 device may beemployed to keep the 'temperature of the heating chamber at the vdesired degree. l i

,.A thermo-couple l0 of any usual and well known type .is located inl the heating chamber adjacent the exit opening 3 and s connected by wires 11 with' a pyrometerlt?, of any suitable construction.'l`he pyrometer 12 is provided with an arm-V13 connected to a wire let upon which vire-is located a bat- '85 'tery or other suitable source of current 15,

said wire being connected to a Irelay 16, which -relay is connected by means of a. wire" 17 with a contact point 18 upon the pyromel 90 The armature 19 of the. relay 16 is connectedby means of a wire 20 with'the solenoid 21, a wire 22- connecting'said solenoid r with the contact point 23 adapted to be engaged'by the armature 19, a `.battery 21' be- 95 ing interposed uponsaid wire 22. 4The contact plate 25 is adapted to be engaged by the pivoted arm 26, said contact plate being connected by means of a wire 27 with the on said wire 27. 4

- The armatures 3() and 31 of the solenoids 21 and28 respectively are pivotally connected to a rock arm 32 which controls the three-way valve water supply line 34 and aiwater discharge line are "conncctcd to said valve and are adapted to be connected, as desired', by means of the valve, with the pipe 36, which supplies the pusher' 3S. 'A branch pipe 39 connects the pipe 3G with the upper end of the pusher cylinder 37. A piston a() is mounted Within the cylinder 37 and the rod Ll1 thereof is pivotally connected to the arm 42 of a bell crank lever, which is pivoted at 13, the arm ltof said `bell crank lever being pivotally attached to the pusher arrnll. A counter- Awcightlt is mounted upon a cable e7, which passes over the pulley 4S, said cable being connected f to the upper extremityk of the arm 44, the counterweight normally holding the hell crank lever in the position shown in the drawings. A finger 49 is provided upon the bell crank lever and adapted to move the pivoted arm 26 into contact with the plate The extremity of the pipe 36 is connected to the lower end of the door lifting cylinder 38 Within whichcylinder is mounted a piston to the rod 5l of which are connected the cables 52 and 53, said cables passing over suitable pulleys 54 and 55 respectively, carrying the doors 4 and 5 respectively. f

i The inclined portion 9 of the billet` support. extends into the quenching tank 56, said tank containing a quantity of water for the purpose of quenching the billets as they are i received from the hardening furnace.

Located within the tank 56 and extending to the entrance of the annealing furnace 57 is an endless conveyor 5S provided at intervals with .lugs 59 adapted to carrythe billets, as they are received from the inclined support S), through the quenching tank and to the entrance of the annealing furnace Where they are deposited upon the billet support of The annealing'furnace 57 is of substan tia'lly the same construction as the hardening furnace 1 and is provided with the same mechanism for carrying the material therethroughr and it is therefore notthought necessary to further describethe annealing furnace in detail as the description of the c hardening furnacey is also a description of ESG the annealing furnace. It will of course be understood that any other mechanical means than the fluid roperated cylinders shown in the drawings may be used to, operate the doors andI pushermechanism and that any otherk suitable electrical mechanism controlled by the temperature of the furnace may be used to control the operation of the -mechanical mechanism, the shouLi/n'g disclosed and described being merely to illustrate the invent-ion. f

Thehardening furnace is arranged to be operated at ar temperature of 1600O F, and the annealing furnace 57 is arranged to operate at 90()o F. It will, of course, be understood ythat if desired these furnaces may be arranged to operate at different temperaturesk than the above. Both of the furnaces may be arranged to operate from one temperature measuring instrument if desired, no claim being ,made to the specific construction of the electrical and mechanical mechanism for operating the furnaces, this mechanism being claimed specifically in acopending application, Serial Number 27 ,7 95, filed May 13, 1915. v

The billetsl indicated by the letter A are placed one at a time upon the extension 8 of the billet support of the hardening furnacel, the several movable parts ofthe clevice being then in the normal position as shoivn in the drawings. As thetemperature in the' rear end of the heating chamber; 7 adjacent the thermo-couple 10 reaches the proper degree -the thermo-couple causes the pyrometer 12 to operate, moving the arm 13r into engagement with thecontact plate 18 closing the circuit from the battery 15 through the `relay 1G and drawing the armature 19 of the relay into engagement with the contact plate 23, thus closing the circuit from the battery 24, through the solenoidr 21. After the armature 30 of the solenoid 21 operates the arm 32 is drawn toward said solenoid, connecting the pipe 3Gl with the Water supply` Sel. l

The Water passing through the pipe 3G and through the branchr pipe 39 operates the pistons l0 and 50 inthe cylinders 37 and 38, opening the doors Llr and of the 'Where Ait is properly quenched and picked up by the continuously operating endless carrier 58 ivhich carries said billet upwardly and deposits it upon the billet support of furnace 1, and pushing the billet which hasr` the annealingy furnace 57, from where said i billet is carried throughthe annealing furnace in the same manner 1r- Which it has been moved through the hardening furnace,

the mechanism connected With the annealing furnace operating in the same manner as `the above 'described mechanism with the cxception, as-above'stated, that the annealing furnace operates at a lower temperature thanr the hardening furnace.

' of contact with the; plate'V 23,

circuit from the battery 24-to thesolenoid 21.

litt insana? is the finger 4&9 comes into contact with the pivoted arm 26, it moves said arm into contact with thecontact. plate 25, closing the circuit from the battery 29 through the solenoid 28. The-"temperature within the The' armature 31 of the solenoid 28 Ywill then be oper-ated, moving .the arm 32 back into the position shown in the drawings, op-

erating the valve 33, connecting the pipe 36 with the discharge pipe 35. The weight of the doors 4 .and 5 will then cause them to closeand the counterweight 46 will bring the pusher back tothe normal position, shown 1n the drawings, rocking the bell crank lever and moving the nger 49 away fromthe` pivotal arm 26 allowing out of contact with. theplate 25', thus'deenergizing the solenoid 28.

By the construction above described land illustrated in the accompanying drawings` it will loe seen" that` the operation of the furnace y is entirely automatic, depending upon the temperature at the discharge end of the heating chamber being raised to the i proper' degree to operate" the pyrometer which controls all of the mechanisml lt will be understood that the apparatus diagranzunatically shown in the drawings, is' merely one of many dierent forms of ap- 1 paratus which' may be used to carry out the rate or distinct articles of fifi operation of the furnace without departing from the spirit of the invention.

e claim: Y

l. A continuous heat treating apparatus comprising a heating furnace, a quenching bath, a reheating furnace, means for movmg material under treatment throughhsaid' into said quenchingV lreatingV furnace and hath, independent means for moving sepathe material from said quenching bath to said relocating furnace and means for moving the material through saidreheating furnace.

2. t continuous heat treating apparatus comprising a heating furnace, a quenching hath, a reheatingl ing material under heating vfurnace and into saidV quenching bath, `independent means for moving separate or distinct articles of the material from said quenching bath to said reheating furnace and means for moving the material through said reheating furnace, said means for moving the material through the furnaces controlled by the temperature of said furnaces. 1

3. i continuous heat treating apparatus comprising a heating furnace,

'the contact point 18,

, said comprising a heating furnace, bath-, .a' reheating furnace,

said Varm to move each of said electrically furnace, means for mov-v treatment through. said bath, .a reheating furnace, a

aquenching bath,ja reheating furnace, means for moving material under treatment through vsaid heating furnace and into Vsaid quenching bath, `independent means for moving separate or distinctarticles of the material from. the'quenching bath to the reheating furnace, means .for moving the material through the reheating furnace, a thermally controlled device controlled by the temperature of each furnacey and electrical controlling means forming an Voperative connection Lbetween thermally controlled device, -and said Ameans for moving thematerial through the furnaces. Y

4.1i continuous heat treating apparatus a .quenchingV electrically controlled' means for moving material under treatment through said heating furnace and into said quenching bath, independent means for' movingl separate V or distinct articles 'of the material from said quenching hath to said reheating furnace, electrically controlledmeans for moving the material through' said reheating furnace, a temperature measuring device adapted to measure the temperature of the material contained in each' furnace and electrical controlling `means forming an operative connection be- `tween said temperature ,measuring device and said lelectrically controlled means for moving the material through the furnaces.

5. A continuous heat treating apparatus comprising a heating furnace, a quenching bath, a reheating furnace, means for movin'g the material to be treated through said heating furnace and intosaid quenching bath, independent means for'moving separate or distinct articles of the material from said quenching bathto said reheating furnace, means for moving the material through theY reheating furnace, erated device controlling the operation of said means for movingthe material through the furnaces, an electric circuit connected to temperature measuring devicearranged to measure the temperature of the material in each of sald furnaces and electrical conan electrically opoperated devices, a t

trolling meansforming an operative connec'- tion between said temperature measuring devices and said electricallyoperated devices.` l

6, it continuous heat treating apparatus comprising a heating furnace, a quenching v pusher for moving material under treatment through said heating furnace, and into said quenching hath, independent means for moving separate or distinct articles of the material from the quenching device to the reheating furnace, a pusher for moving the material through the reheating furnace, means for operating said pushers, temperature measan f insana?? uringmeans for measuring the `temperature koi' the 4heating chambers of said furnaces,

and electrical controlling means forming an operative connection between the temperature; measuring means and said means for operating the pushers. f` n n 7. A continuousheat treating apparatus comprising a heating furnace, a quenching bath, a reheating furnace, a heating chamber in each of said furnaces, temperature measuring means connected to each of said heating chambers, mechanical means for passing material under treatment through each of said heating chambers, electrical controllingimeans forming an operative connection between said temperaturemeasuring means and said` mechanical means and independent means for moving separate or distinct articles of the material through said quenching bath to said reheating furnace.

vto .be treated from the entrance end toward the exit end of each heating chamber, said means being controlled by the temperature measuring devicey and independent means for carryimg separate or distinct articles 'of the material through the quenching trough to the reheating furnace.

in testimony that We claim the above, We have hereunto subscribed. our names.

' THDDEUS F. BAILY.

FRNK T. COPE. 

